Losing balance at finish with driver

Hi Gene,

Happy New Year to you too!

Thanks for the kind words. I'm humbled anytime I hear that my creative outlet has helped golfers like yourself understand and improve.

To your main question, chasing aesthetics can be a dangerous game. That said, usually, aesthetics show up for a reason, and learning how to improve them can help performance. In this case, we can start by analyzing why you might lose your balance with the driver. As you said, it might unpack a project you're not willing to take on at this point, but at the least, it'll help you understand it and mentally file it away.

Balance comes from keeping your center of mass within your base of support. Certain movements make this easier and harder. Let's tackle your movements in the two directions you lose it.

I've got two screen captures that show when you lose balance. Both of them occur when you are at end range of motion of your ankle and instead of moving into your hip, you try to continue moving your knee and ankle. So basically, you lose your balance because you do too much at the ankle and the knee and not enough at the foot and hip. This often happens when the foot is stiff or weak or when the hip muscles are tight or weak as well. That answer should lead you back to your original question, "is this something I want to take on right now?"

Happy Golfing, and Happy New Year again,

Tyler

Tyler, thanks for the reply. So are you saying this is more of a strength and/or flexibility issue rather than a swing fault? Or is there something happening earlier in the swing that is causing this tendency? I had sort of assumed that there was a chain reaction of things in the swing leading to me losing my balance. Also, if I get to the point where I want to work on this, any tips on where you would start?

The loss of balance can be part of a chain reaction. That's why taking on a new issue can seem daunting at first. If it were me, I'd start by understanding my follow-through position better. What would it feel like to get weight over the lead foot, lead big toe down, foot arched with a little bit of torso side bend? If getting into that position was a challenge, then I'd investigate the limiting part (foot, hip, spine).
If that's going smoothly, then I'd investigate the chain causes you mentioned. Am I losing balance because of what my body is doing to support my club path, face control, or low point pattern?

So I would start with the follow-through bracing idea and then work backward from there.

Great, I appreciate the advice!